1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to Computer Aided Design (CAD) software, and more particularly, to a software program capable of identifying tolerances of design objects, and facilitating the analysis and interfacing thereof.
2. Background Art
The use of CAD software for purposes of design and development of various products has quickly become a standard tool for the development and design of all types of products. While such design and development tools have provided the designer or engineer with a plurality of functional advantages over traditional pencil and paper design and development, there are additional software features which would be advantageous.
In particular, current methods of determining the interfacing of parts relative to their tolerances requires in-depth knowledge of structural analysis and mathematics. As such, certain specific skills are required to analyze certain structures and the interfaces between certain structures. Moreover, due to the sophistication of the calculations, such an analysis is often prone to the generation of errors. Such errors have far-reaching effects, as a faulty analysis can often lead to the redesign of components, or, an undesirably high reject rate of components at the manufacturing and assembly stage.
In turn, it would be desirable to provide for a software program which can facilitate the identification of relevant dimensions and tolerances with minimal input from a user. For example, it would be highly desirable for a user to graphically identify the components of a particular design from which the system can determine the relevant dimensions and tolerances of interest. In addition, it would be desirable to analyze the identified dimensions and tolerances under a variety of algorithms.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a software program and corresponding apparatus which can implement the above-identified desirable features.
The foregoing object and other objectives of the present invention will become apparent in light of the specification, drawings and claims appended hereto.